


In a world all our own.

by bergamot_latte



Category: Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Mentions of Sexual Assault, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of Violence, mentions of child abuse, this is set as "mature" as a precaution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:01:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25028173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bergamot_latte/pseuds/bergamot_latte
Summary: Goro Akechi wasn't one to flaunt his lovers; in fact, he likes to keep them hidden from the public view, mostly due to the fact that everyone would have one problem with it.He was dating a boy. A boy that had a smile like the sun that seemed to pierce his cold heart, and make it alive again.Maybe moving to the United States to escape his demons wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Reader, hinted past akeshu
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	In a world all our own.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! this is my first foray into this sort of fanfiction, so I thought I'd give it a whirl! In this Goro is currently on a scholarship studying in Southern California, and other things get very detailed as a warning <3 this is a self insert, and even though he has described features and a nickname given to him, you can mix and match as much as you want! Go wild. This is, however, written from Goro's perspective.
> 
> Please do be careful however! There are some mentions of physical violence, child abuse and child neglect.

Goro stared at the clock, his pencil held languidly in his hand. Two hours of this, a half hour walk across campus. And he'd be home. The professor, however, droned on and on about... what was it? Oh yes, he was forced to take a course on Greek philosophy for his major, not that he minded. It was all way too easy for him anyways. American universities, while prestigious, were far behind what was in Japan.

But he had to get away from it all. Away from his mistakes and his past; Ren understood. He was his best friend and even though he was sorry to see him leave, he realized Goro couldn't stay there, at least not for now. The more he thought on the past seven years or so the more the heart he thought he had killed was hurting beyond control. Though he got away with his crimes, he didn't feel good about it, and he was undergoing a lot of therapy to fix the damage that he and others had caused to his heart and mind. Even with help, sometimes the nights became too much and he'd wake up, covered in a cold sweat and eyes still seeing the shadows - and Palace Rulers - he had taken out as his time during Shido's control.

Though..... there was one thing that was helping to speeding his recovery, and that was his lover. They had started out as roommates, since they lived in the same dorm room during their freshman and sophomore years. At first he took no heed of the short, cute boy that greeted him so enthusiastically - even now he smiled to think about it - when he was showing his public face. He did not like at first having to live in the small, two bedroom style dorm room with another person, since they could hear him wake up sobbing once in a blue moon, but it was required as a part of "student living" at this particular uni. He accepted it with good grace, and got along fantastically with the guy he was rooming with. He oddly had long brown hair, curly, and he saw that there were blond lights in it, earnest brown eyes, and olive skin that was tanned by the Californian sun. He actually took it upon himself to make Goro lunch one day, since he saw that Goro rarely ate. So each day he was getting three good meals, he was studying, working out and even had a job at the small student cafe working as a cashier. (He was no Ren with coffee, sadly.) However, it was one late night near the end of their freshman year - Goro was awake on a caffeinated binge trying to study for finals - he heard an audible sobbing coming from the room next to him. It sounded like great, gasping sobs, the kind that would catch anyone's attention, and it certainly caught his.

Goro, normally not one to get into these sorts of things with others, was actually..... curious? Worried? Since he knew that was his roommate's bedroom. Getting up from his cramped desk space, he opened his own door softly so it wouldn't squeak and shuffled down the small hall to see that the other's door was cracked open, a stripe of deep golden light coming out and staining the area around it in a soft glow. He peaked in - also damn the bead curtain his roommate had - to see him curled up under blankets, shivering, and he could hear the crying even louder now. What even was going on? He had NEVER heard him cry like this. Oh, he cried over books, TV shows and even cute animals, but never..... this kind of crying.

It was the sobbing of someone with a broken heart. The last time he heard someone cry like this he was a child and the person crying was his mother.

This struck a chord deep within him. Reacting on instinct, he pushed the door open and stood near the bed, and with more bravery than it took to go into the Metaverse, he gently touched where he thought the young man's head was. The pile of blankets stopped crying with a start, and flailed wildly until he was out of the covers. Goro could see his reddened eyes, the stuffy nose, and the clear distress on his face.

"Hey, what happened?" Goro had more gentleness in his tone than he ever had.

For a moment, deep brown eyes gazed back at him, and Goro realized he had never seen the ring of gold he had in his iris, and oddly his eyes were even prettier in candlelight.

And then he broke down. Goro got to hear about all the stress his roommate had gone through, with school, work, grandparents that disowned him due to his sexuality and finally that - 

"... my ex cheated on me and told me yesterday. Right before finals. I can't do this anymore." There was a desperate tone in his voice, and he was closed to crying again, breaking like a wild storm over northern seas. Goro had seen this all to many times before, and in this case - a reflection of himself before he discovered his powers. A weak, crying mess. Normally he would be irritated by thinking of that time, but now?

All he felt was empathy. In a very uncharacteristic move, he asked, "May I lay down with you?" 

Those warm, sad brown eyes looked up at him again, and his heart contracted - what was the matter with him?

"Please?" came the hoarse whisper. And that night, Goro felt a warm body against his, and he felt the young man slip away into a dreamland, curled up in his arms like a small, shivering kitten that woke up every now and again to cry into his arms. And Goro felt a type of warmth that he thought he had long lost in Japan with Ren enter his heart. 

From that point onward, he gave his roommate the playful nickname "kitten". He didn't object and even smiled at the nickname. Soon, that nickname became near and dear to Goro's heart as he learned so much more about his friend. He learned that he loved hiking, especially up north in the deep greenery of state parks, on the mountains near his hometown here in the San Bernardino area, and he snuck out of class to surf more often than not on the warm beaches. He loved to swim, to sing, and his major - which Goro never caught, now that he thought about it. He also learned that the pots on the fire escape were herbs for cooking and healing. Oddy, he was an echo of Ren - but not at the same time. Only the care he gave Goro, and the warm smiles, seemed to remind him of his past, but other than that.....

Goro found he loved to hear him sing. One day on the last day of school he came home to the dorm hearing Billie Holiday's "I'll Be Seeing You" sung in a soft, rich voice that entranced him the moment he walked into the door. And on that same day, he lost his heart completely. Goro was completely surprised to be invited to his home for the summer, something he did not expect since the college had dorms for students like him.

He was more than happy to go home with him during the summer months - and it felt like he had a family for the first time in years. His grandparents weren't in the picture, but his dad, and stepmom were most definitely in the picture. There were other siblings, but they were working summer jobs just like he and 

It was the first summer he actually enjoyed in years. Spending lazy afternoons at alpine lakes in the San Bernardino mountains, fishing, swimming, and talking. Excursions out to Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Riverside, and other cities that the family was rather fond of. And enough good food to last him a life time.

During times alone, Goro talked about all the shit he went through - his mother dying, his father's refusal to see him as his son, the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of others..... and his unrequited love for his best friend, for which the younger man had empathy in his warm brown eyes.

And something else, too. Was that love deep in his eyes? _How could anyone love him?_

The fall came with an alarming quickness, and soon they were bundled and cozy in an apartment that looked over the sea. He would rather live with someone he knew and was friends with over some random stranger, and his kitten was very delighted, saying "We'll have a better run this year!"

And they did. Goro was never one for a social life but he became interested in the people that came in and out of their dorm. A mixture of free spirited types, some odd, some giving off the vibe that he'd rather not have them around.

It was one of them that set the wheel of love in motion however......

Late one dark fall night Goro had come home to the apartment dark save for the glow of the one floor lamp they owned. The layout was different, so the living room was in between their rooms. He noticed that one door - his roommate's - was closed. Odd, normally he would be awake waiting for Goro to come back from his job at the student cafe, chattering away about his own day like a talkative cat awaiting its owner at the end of the day.

But instead he came back to silence. It was unnerving. He was so used to the noise of the other man talking so much that the lack of sound almost drained him. He found a meal in the fridge with his name on it, and a small note that he would be back around twelve, he was just out with some friends. Goro sighed a little, irritated he didn't get a text - but then he checked his phone, and it was dead. Well that would explain why he didn't feel the buzzing from the group chat with Sumi and Ren.... or any messages he might have gotten from others. 

He reheated the dinner that was placed for him in the fridge and he barely tasted it. Something in general was _off_ about being home on his own for the first time in a year and a half. He was a lone wolf but when he found someone to attach to, he seemed to attach hard apparently. 

He sat in the living room for an hour, flipping through channels on their beaten up hand me down flat screen they got from Goodwill and found a documentary he liked about the ocean. It kept his brain distracted until he heard the front door open, and he heard that tinkling laugh he was so used to -

Next to someone he had never met. Instantly he was on edge, since there was no reason for this man to be here.

"Goro!" He looked like he was blooming, all rosy cheeks and smiling wide. Never mind that Goro wanted to rip the man's arm off for being around his kitten's shoulders.

"Welcome home." He said smoothly, turning the TV off and grabbing the stumbling smaller man as he came into the entrance. Goro gave a calm but very cold smile to his friends companion. He had a very pissed off aura to him, scarring the other man off, and the door shut leaving Goro with a very drunk (or high? he wouldn't judge either way) but also very cutely clingy brunette. Goro sighed, picked him up and went off down the hall to his room, thanking goodness he wouldn't have to wash him at all since he was very clean and didn't smell like he had a night on the town.

..... and he seemed so small, weak and absolutely adorably _helpless_ in Goro's arms. 

"If I was any other man...." he chuckled a little. "You shouldn't be so helpless, kitten, with other men."

"Mmmpfh." Was his reply into Goro's shoulder. Goro laughed. He gently put the other down onto the bed, but was surpised to feel a hand on his arm. 

"....don wanna.... 'leep 'lone." Brown eyes opened wearily and looked deep into Goro's own, shattering his reserve. He sighed.

"..... let me get dressed for bed. And then help you, since you can barely do it yourself." His smile was soft, almost gentle. He found he liked taking care of people, despite his past. Quickly both of them were attired in bedclothes, and he had a warm body curled up into him. He looked up at the ceiling and almost laughed when he saw that there were glow in the dark stars, planets and the like on it. It felt familar and warm.....

"....'ove you, 'ro." His bedmate said sleepily. "So much. N matter 'ow much you don't like yourself, I have enough love for us both...."

Goro froze, his face pink. Love? Did he hear that right?

 _He loved him back._ Goro was wildly happy, his heart was soaring. It was an inebriated confession, but one that made him grin like an idiot. 

With a gentleness he was surprised he had, he kissed his - truly his - kitten on the forehead, murmuring soft words. "I love you too, but you need to sleep this off."

They had both fallen into the realm of Morpheus until well into next morning, and when Goro woke up, he found his bedmate staring at him. Goro noticed now in the morning light that there were freckles across the bridge of his nose, and that he had a dusky, charming pink blush on his face.

"Good morning." Goro's voice was low and intimate. "Sleep well?"

"....yes. I'm so sorry you heard th-"

"You confessed while very not sober." Goro said plithily. "Thank goodness I had ahold of you, sweetheart." The nickname rolled off the tongue so naturally for him. And he got perverse pleasure in seeing his face turn a bright red color.

"You're teasing me!" He cried. Goro laughed. 

"You make it easy." Goro pulled him close and kissed him. This was nothing like the hurried kisses from sexual partners of the past. His lips were warm, loving and sweet, and they pulled each other close. The kisses escalated until they were breathless, hands askew from their original spots. They both laughed, cuddled and made plans for that day-

His professor coughing brought him out of his reverie. "And that concludes the lesson. Now, we have a quiz next Friday....."

Soon he was out the door and into the early spring twilight. Off to home, to his own little world and the arms of someone he loved.

**Author's Note:**

> This might not be the "end" this was more or less a warm up. 
> 
> I hope you liked it ;w; this was more self indulgent than anything.


End file.
